CORE: Metabolomics Shared Resource (Omics Group) PROJECT SUMMARY Development and progression of cancer has long been known to be multifactorial. To begin to understand cancer progression with a systems perspective, we need to characterize and integrate the various molecular components involved across the various biospecimens analyzed, defining the new era of Systems Biology, or OMICS. The emergence of the ?-omics? era has shifted the focus from the assessment of individual genes and proteins to examination of a substantial component of the expressed genome and proteome. Deciphering the molecular networks that distinguish subsets of tumors that progress to advanced disease will delineate the etiology of cancer, as well as lead to the identification of biomarkers that will aid in the identification of patients that should be treated. Although such studies have been carried out using global transcriptomics, and to some extent proteomics platforms, much less has been achieved in the domain of studying global metabolic alterations. The current application aims to create a cancer-centric metabolomics shared resource to provide service, infrastructure, expertise, support and training on measurement of metabolite levels in a broad range of specimens using various orthogonal technology platforms that together can measure a significant breadth of the metabolome. Specifically, this shared resource will measure qualitative and quantitative levels of polar, mid polar and non-polar metabolites including lipids as well as measure pathway activity in cell lines, tissues, plasma, serum and urine.